Colin Gorrie

Thank you, Gretchen! A little thorn and yogh go a long way!

Even Latin “sinister” likely originated in a word meaning ‘more advantageous.’

This process is called taboo avoidance: the same impulse that makes people say “the good folk” instead of naming the fairies.

You give something a nice name not because you like it, but because you’re afraid of it.

Latin “sinister” just meant ‘left’ before it meant ‘evil.’ The word keeps going bad, and speakers keep reaching for a fresh euphemism.

Ancient Greek did something similar to Old English, calling the left side “aristeros,” ‘the better one.’

It was a superstitious euphemism. The left side was considered unlucky and dangerous, so you called it something nice to keep it from harming you.

Across European languages, words for ‘left’ are strikingly unstable, constantly being replaced as each new term absorbs the old stigma.

Old English didn't use the words “left” and “right” for the two hands. Instead, it used “winestre” and “swiþre”: ‘friendlier’ and ‘stronger.’

But ‘friendlier’ wasn’t meant as a compliment.

How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

If you liked this experiment, I published a full piece today in the same vein: a text that gets 100 years older with every section, from a modern blog post to a medieval chronicle.

It's a single story spanning 1000 years of English. See how far you get.

www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...

Þy furðor þu underbæc færst, þy gelicor biþ Englisc gesewen þære Deniscan spræce. Englisce bec þæs m. geare ne mæg nan mann rædan buton he sundorlice geleornad sy.

Yet tuo hundred wintre er, sone after þat the Normans comen to þis londe, is Englisch on muchel wandlunge. Þe tunges work is tobroken, Frensce wordes comeþ in, and þe writunge is al totwemed.

Wende we now tuo hundred ȝeer bifore, to Chauceres tyme. It seemeth ȝit as Englisshe, but it nis nat esy to reden withouten greet connynge.

In Shakeſpeares dayes, ſpelling was much more variable, & you ſhall finde notable differences in the grammar: "thou" could bee intimate or inſulting, depending vpon whom you ſayd it to; to chooſe amiſse had conſequences.

The Spelling of our Tongue was in the main ſettled ere the eighteenth Century, & the Grammar has ſuffer'd but little Alteration ſince. Yet before this happy Settlement, things were exceeding ſtrange.

Written English has barely changed in 300 years. If you can read Harry Potter, you can read Robinson Crusoe (1719).

Instead, 14th-century English writers just borrowed French words derived from Cicero's Latin.

Plain loanwords, no assembly required.

So we got "quantity" and "quality" when we could have had "howmuchness" and "whatkindness."

I think we're the poorer for it.

Cicero invented the words "quantity" and "quality" by translating Greek terms piece by piece using Latin roots.

Linguists call this a kind of piece-by-piece translation a calque.

English could have done the same thing centuries later. "How much" and "what kind" were right there!

Thank you!

And re: what happens in chapter 8… that’s one of my dirty authorial tricks to get people to keep reading :)

Thank you! I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying it!

Va a haber que estudiar inglés antiguo con este libro de @colingorrie.bsky.social.

Potential "Controversies" in Ōsweald Bera On the trade-offs inherent in writing a graded reader

In writing Ōsweald Bera, I had to make some decisions that not everyone will agree with

Trade-offs had to be made between:
- story
- grammatical simplicity
- vocabulary load
- idiomatic use of the language

I explain my point of view on Substack:

colingorrie.substack.com/p/potential-...

That’s amazing news! So glad to hear it arrived safely and I hope you enjoy it!

Very strong lineup!

Honoured!

Iċ wille

Language Log 2024.11.10–2024.11.16

9h Old English
2h Mandarin
2.5h Ancient Greek
2h Biblical Hebrew
1.75h [redacted]
1.25h Yiddish
1h Spanish

Post 'em if you got 'em!

YouTube video by Colin Gorrie Ōsweald Bera is available now!

Go buy @colingorrie.bsky.social's book!
youtu.be/zB9OBbM6GPQ

Ōsweald thanks you!

Happy to be able to announce that Ōsweald Bera: An Introduction to Old English is now available!

Orders will begin shipping out over the next few days.

You can get your copy at oswealdbera.com

Greeking Out is geeking out about Old English with @colingorrie.bsky.social about a certain bear. (Say that 5 times fast.)

podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fle...

Wow, I haven't been on here in a year's time...

Having fun choosing texts for the Old English 202 class

Are you thinking poetry? Because I'm thinking poetry.

In particular, Andreas, with The Wanderer and The Seafarer for dessert.

A crudely drawn picture of an evil monk and a bear who is drinking wine.

New cover design for Ōsweald Bera just dropped